


Save Him

by obisgirl



Category: Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-06
Updated: 2012-08-06
Packaged: 2017-11-11 14:04:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/479308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obisgirl/pseuds/obisgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another take on the scene at the end of Return of the Jedi, why Vader decides to save Luke from the Emperor, aside from the obvious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Save Him

Bolts of energy shoot from the Emperor's hands towards him. The young Jedi tries to use the Force to deflect them. At first, he is half-successful, but after a moment the bolts of energy are coming with such speed and power the young Jedi shrinks before them, his knees buckling. The wounded Sith Lord struggles to his feet and moves to stand at his master's side.

"Young fool...only now, at the end, do you understand." The Emperor laughs, grinning as he continues his assault.

He is almost unconscious beneath the continuing assault of the Emperor's lightning. He clutches a canister to keep from falling into the bottomless shaft as the bolts tears through him.

'Save Him.'

Vader hears vaguely, the voice sounding familiarly like her voice.

~~

_Anakin smiled, holding a hand on her stomach. This was the life he helped create, their lives belonged to him. If the Jedi Council knew, they wouldn't understand. It was selfish of him but he didn't want them to be taken from him, or Padmé. When he was a boy, he had a choice to either stay with his mom or go with the Jedi, and he chose to go with the Jedi. He believed then and he still believed his destiny was with the Jedi but he wanted a different destiny for his children. Anakin wanted them to have normal lives, to play and be children. He was never allowed to play, or act as a child in the Jedi Temple because Temple Masters frowned upon such childish games._

_Padmé smiled and moved away, relaxing on the couch. She smiled briefly and then frowned solemnly, remembering the reason for her husband's visit. "How long?"_

_"I don't know," he said, "I don't think the mission will last long. "_

_Padmé sighed and fidgeted, "Come back to me, Ani. I want you to be here with me when I give birth to our children."_

_Anakin grinned, sitting beside her and kissed her the palm of her hand, "I know," he whispered, "I want so much to meet them. I can't wait to be a part of their lives, teach my son everything that I know." Anakin kissed her hand again and Padmé leaned over and hugged him, somehow feeling this was the time she would ever see him._

~~

'Save Him.'

He hears the voice again, 'Anakin, he's your son. You must save him,' the voice pleads.

Anakin looks again to his Master and then to his son. Luke writhes on the floor in unbearable pain, reaching weakly up towards him. In his eyes, he can see Padmé pleading with him too.

"Father, please. Help Me," he cries.

Luke looks away and moans as every part of his body aches from the lightning bolts.

'Save Him. Ani, please save him,'

He was the life he felt. He didn't know why in the beginning his existence intrigued him. It is because this boy is his son. In him, he saw himself as a young apprentice, always looking to the future and never focusing on the moment. He remembered his former Master saying to him that a Jedi's reality was the here and now, and to be mindful of the future but not to get wrapped in it.

'Save Him,'

Vader looks towards his Master again and then to his son, lying on the floor. His will was like hers, fighting until the end. He is stubborn like him, wanting to be a Jedi like him but his will comes from her.

"Now, young Skywalker...you will die."

Although it would not have seemed possible, the outpouring of bolts from the Emperor's fingers increases in intensity, the sound screaming through the room, causing Luke's body to writhe in pain.

'He cannot die. Anakin, you must save him...he's your son,'

For Her.

For years, he had forgotten about her, erasing her face from his mind. She was the reason he stopped being Anakin and let himself become Darth Vader. He didn't want to remember her, part of him didn't want to remember but another part of him wanted to remember her always. His son, their son, is a part of her and his sister too. He waits a moment for the voice to say something to him, but it is silent. It didn't matter.

Vader grabs the Emperor from behind, fighting for control of the robed figure despite the Dark Lord's weakened body and gravely weakened arm. The Emperor struggles in his embrace, his bolt-shooting hands lifted high. Now the white lightning arcs to strike at Vader. He stumbles with his load as the sparks rain off his helmet and flows down over his black cape. He holds his master high over his head and walks to the edge of the abyss at the central core of the throne room. With one final burst of his strength, Darth Vader hurls the Emperor's body into the bottomless shaft.

The Emperor's body spins helplessly into the void, arcing as it falls into the abyss. Once the body is far down the shaft, it explodes, creating a rush of air through the room. Vader's cape is whipped by the wind as he staggers and collapses towards the bottomless hole. Luke crawls to his father's side, pulling him away from the edge of the abyss to safety, both father, and son too weak to move.

The End

 


End file.
